The mana escaping had a physical effect on his body and his muscles quivered as it felt like the life had just been stripped from his body.

As Neo took in deep breaths, his world spun but he heard and felt the ground shake. Looking up his head spun wildly as he saw the sequence of stone rapidly rising into the darkness. "Wow…" was all Neo could say as he observed everything, even Bethany was looking into the hallway. as she stared into the darkness. Neo, having recovered from his dizziness, asked Bethany, "So, you didn't know that would happen?"

Shaking her head, she replied, "Nope, I was only told the same unhelpful and vague directions. But at least we have answers to our questions, good luck!"

Neo tried standing up only to find his head spinning for a short time before settling back down with a dull thump. After waiting a while for his head to still, he started moving down the endless looking darkness as he approached the end of the light that the entrance gave him. That light was then suddenly extinguished with a loud boom, making Neo jump. Turning with a hiss he found the huge boulder had closed behind him. Before Neo's eyes could total adjust to the darkness he was blinded by a pair of fireballs that appeared on each side of the hallway which started moving further down the corridor. Before the darkness could consume him again Neo jogged towards it to catch up to the ever-moving light.

After catching up to the flames he found a pleasant warmth coming from them. Neo jumped again when another loud boom sounded, turning he found that another of the stone doors had closed behind him. Nerves a little frayed, he continued with the expectation that other stone doors would descend quickly after he passed them.

After what seemed like forever, Neo was still walking down the endless dark hallway. A little while on, Neo let out a shout, "What the hell!"

'How long is this tunnel?' He was physically tired as his feet ached from blisters and his muscles were cramped from his ever-on-edge nerves, which twitched every time he heard the stone doors close behind him.

Exacerbated, Neo had to stop. He couldn't see any end or even a light at the end of the tunnel. was left behind by the fireball. His anxiety increased with every second as he watched the light fade into a star, leaving him in darkness. Neo was concerned that he would get crushed by a stone door, and his concerns weren't unjustified.

As his star was abruptly cut off he was left in complete darkness. Neo’s heart was pounding in panic as his reality kicked in and a single thought passed through his mind, 'Ow shit!'

Darkness does strange things to people, but Neo was sure he hadn’t been here long enough to go mad. He started to hear voices just outside of his hearing range like whispers on the wind. They slowly became louder and louder until Neo could hear what it was saying, "Prepare yourself, it's going to get a little bright in here."

It was at this that Neo figured that he should do exactly as instructed, but as the thought crossed his mind the space around him lit up, blinding him. With foul words falling out of his mouth his thoughts turned to try and understand why this was happening.

He'd been drained, b and now blinded, what else could happen, what other trap do they have, are they torturing me or is this training? Neo was hoping for the latter as he didn't think he'd insulted anyone badly enough to try to kill him over anything.

Blinking away the splotches in his sight he saw a massive cavern with equally giant stalactites. Neo could see all this from the large fireballs floating in between them casting shadows onto the flat surface he found himself on. Looking around he gauged how big an area it was. By his guesstimate it was about the size of 5 football fields with a dome like structure. Bringing his attention to the person with a goat like figure standing a few metres in front of him, Neo spoke, "Ah, Master Elfin are you my control trainer?"

The humpback drew close, Neo was surprised that he could now suddenly hear the master walking stick tapping on the rocky floor. Master Elfin cleared his voice with a long and drawn out cough before he spoke in his usual slow manner, "Indeed I am, your first task is to strip bare so you won't damage you're school uniform."

Neo tried to reply and ask his own question, but Elfin wouldn’t allow it. He repeated his statement and just stared at Neo until he gave in and started striping, folding up his clothes and placing them in a corner. In the process he found the cavern was cold. As he stood waiting for new instructions, Master Elfin sat down making himself comfortable in the middle of the room.

"Now take off your ring and let's go, you can hit me, or you can try to at least, and as a suggestion, take control. Once you have you can then begin your balance training and to find your way."

Neo was of course hesitant. Last time he felt as if he would lose himself so he fought it down and now this man wanted him to purposely let the instincts take control. Honestly, he was terrified. He began to voice his fears, but found that Elfin was already aware of his worries. "We are miles underground, without anyone else in this cavern and if you fail to take control then you won't be able to get out easily. To harm anyone you'll also have to get through several layers of magical enchantment. No easy feat for just your instincts to get through. So, stop worrying about others and worry more about yourself!"

Taking a deep breath Elfin continued, "So child, stop being a coward and get your ring off your finger and wait for the opportunity to take control, you'll know when."

Neo took a deep calming breath and tried to relax his mind. He pulled off the ring, and could feel the changes instantly as thousands of creeping crawlies climbed up his body, transforming it. Once his features were hidden, his scales and horns were all accentuate Neo thought, 'it hasn't hit me yet!' He looked into himself and saw when the barrier from stopping his overflowing mana disappeared. As it flowed and fluctuated it exited his body and distorted the space around him, Neo felt the release of pressure. It was wonderful but Neo still felt normal, 'hasn't hit me yet!'

His anxiety rose with the anticipation yet once his mana had settled he could feel the rush of feelings rage against his mind. Regardless of what Elfin had asked of him, he fought as his own survival instinct shouted out

'I have to let go, and believe that I'll be back,' Neo thought. Closing his eyes, he relaxed his stiff body as he gave up, which was quite a struggle in itself. The instincts battled on, regardless that it had gotten control of his body and that he'd been squashed into a corner to fight for his survival.

Elfin could see the struggle represented through Neo's body. When he was struggling against it his body had been stiff, it then relaxed. Then Elfin felt a change in the mana around Neo's body, smiling to himself he thought, 'Good lad, I hope you haven't been eradicated.' Looking at Neo's body, Elfin also could see the control of mana became sharper, but there was still a lot leaking around him.

It opened his eyes. They were no longer the eyes of a kind man, just ones that looked at everything as prey. Elfin looked on unperturbed as those eyes stared at him. It growled at Elfin before he charged at him, shooting across the cavern. As he reached half way a heavy force pulled on him and he face planted into the ground with a boom. With a pained cry, it released a spatial slash towards Elfin, hoping to disrupt him into releasing him. The slash travelled right at Elfin but, before it got too close, a black vortex consumed the slash. The feeling that the gravity holding him back had weakened, but he still struggled to rise under its pressure, slowly he managed to escape the area of effect.

Once he'd exited, it dashed around throwing slashes of magic at Elfin. Still sitting down, Elfin moved his black vortex around intercepting them. As Neo’s instincts got more frustrated he changed tactics again. Launching two slashes towards Elfin, it also ran towards him. If Elfin wanted to catch the two slashes with his black vortex, he would lose sight of Neo. Unfortunately for it's face, Elfin had seen this move dozens of times. The vortex faded away and it dashed forward, smacking straight into a wall. Not giving a second thought it jumped up, scraping his claws along the wall and stabbing them in once he reached the top. Pulling himself over and toward Elfin.

Who was also ready to receive him. He simply held his hand out towards It. With a hit from a gravity shot to the stomach, it flew towards the roof where he smashed through several stalactites. After recovering, it found himself in the air with rocks around him. It reactively grabbed the rock around him and propelled them toward Elfin, who just ate them with the vortex.

Neo's body landed on the floor and growled in frustration, and hesitated in its action

Neo, trapped in his own mind and with attacks raining down on him from every direction, crushing his mind under a barge of emotion and malice, was surviving by coalescing a strong fortification that was starting to crack under the pressure, 'Come on, hurry up!'

Neo begged to himself, he didn't what to be erased from his own body. Another boom sounded as a wave was sent through his mind, disrupting it. Gathering his thoughts in a panicky way, 'Ow shit, ow shit,' he thought, once he had gathered enough of his mind to think. Pulling himself together and preparing himself, he waited for another wave. The area around him that the instincts controlled vibrated, and Neo prepared himself for a new type of attack. When nothing came for a short while, Neo investigated. It was still vibrating, so Neo hesitantly tried to feel it out, passing a strand of thought past his mental barrier. He got no reaction out of the instincts, however he still diligently pushed forward. He then came to the conclusion that this was what Elfin was talking about, realising this he put his all behind his counterattack.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Outside of Neo’s consciousness, Elfin had to now contend with huge swaths of mana falling out of Neo's body. He couldn't retreat after seeing the way it moved and reacted. It was awesome to watch, if a bit predictable. He needed to guide Neo so that he wouldn't just destroy such a useful advantage.

So, he had to put up with that bone creaking pain that formed as an effect of pressure from foreign mana. Reluctantly Elfin let his mana out of his body, a wasteful use of power, but it did stop the pain. He took an internal gauge of his mana finding it at an acceptable level and observably reducing as time went on.

It became apparent to Elfin that Neo had more mana than himself as the intensity continued, even as his own mana decreased to concerning levels. At the same time, his own emotions were frayed, mainly jealously. Accepting the feeling he then tried to understand why he was feeling so.

It wasn't hard to figure out what was making him jealous. His thousand odd years of practice, training, and growth and this kid, in a far shorter amount of time, had surpassed him. It was so irritating. He consoled himself that Neo was far less trained in how to use it, but humans are very adaptable, one of their only positive traits. He then had to oppose his thoughts, what did he have that Neo didn't? A long life full of experience, family, understanding of his world, political knowledge of a thousand years and more. He always found that analysing what he had compared to another actually helped him a lot. Seeing what his life had given him was far better then what he didn't have.

His emotions calmed, the building rage settled. It was a constant battle for balance in his life, body, and mind. There was a shift in the area around him as the mana retreated into Neo and he could see the sparkle of life in Neo's eyes. Neo’s eyes clouded over as he looked into space, thinking.

Neo's mind was like a supernova as his little star of life in the black raging void magnificently exploded forth, carving its way through. Bringing light to the darkness, Neo found it too was consumed with raw and almost overwhelming emotions of confusion, rage, and fear. It shocked him, but he couldn't allow himself to be get muddled down by it, life wasn't going to stop for him to adjust. Right now, however, it would just shackle him and get him killed, so he pushed through with all his effort.

The light at the end of his tunnel was the feeling of the rough stony surface, the sapping coolness of the air, and finally, the gloomy, slightly less tidy cavern that spoke volumes of what had transpired while he was gone. It wasn't too long before Neo found out what had happened when a flood of memories marched themselves into focus

As he digested the information he remembered when he wasn't himself and thought, 'hmm, I didn't know I could do that, my body must be a lot stronger and faster than I thought. I don't want that happening again.'

He focused in on himself, intending to crush the remnants of the instincts, and a hand landed on his shoulder. Looking, he found a rather sweaty Elfin. "Lad, glad you’re back. Are the instincts still in you, or have you destroyed them?"

Shaking his head and feeling out the black blob in his conscious Neo answered, "No it's still there, why?"

"Well it came to my attention when it was moving and reacting that your own instincts may not be able to do the same thing, as yours are at a level of a human while I guess that this other presence is of a dragon’s lineage. So is used to a dragon’s might, which is why it might be trying to take over, acting like you’re an invading mind and trying to take back control…"

Elfin went onto a bit of a tangent with ideas and theories. "What is its current situation?"

Neo, hearing Elfin's question, shook his head to get rid of the glazing that had covered his eyes. Again, he poked a small portion of his thought into the blackness. Feelings of fear, panic and sadness slowly came through. He conveyed the information to Elfin, who nodded."It's probable that it's scared of dying. Perhaps you could give it a peace offering or a branch and try communicating… try with your own emotions, relying on calmness, friendship and confidence."

Neo thought about it going back into his memories he remembered the speed and power think over whether he could do that or if these instincts can be controlled, or at least taught.

Neo searched the remaining instincts, still finding them filled with fear, so he relented, "Okay, I'll give it a try."

Elfin's face lit up with energy as he energetically spoke, "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I'll set up a sensory deprivation dome so that nothing will disrupt you and we'll deal with whatever happens when it happens."

Elfin shrunk back giving him a few metres of space before he turned around, gesturing to the ground which reacted to his will as the earth crawled up itself, connecting at a cupola he saw the last of the light fade away, leaving him unable to see past the end of his nose and the only sound he could hear was his own breathing. It wasn't long before Neo’s feet got wet, which slowly travelled up until it stopped at his waist.

Neo had never been in a sensory deprivation tank before. He moved around a little, finding the water hard to move in. Bending over, he tasted the water and found it salty. After finding that the saltiness helped him with buoyancy by floating in the water, he relaxed and felt all the strain on his muscles disappear and with nothing to listen to he forgot about his body and focus on his mind, which was also less strained. He sent a tentacle of consciousness into the territory of the instincts. Instead of a quick action that might scare it, he was slow and careful, Neo connected a sort of one direction flow and sent calmness and kindness. The second his feelings hit the black blob it quivered and shrunk back.

Neo didn't go after it, just stayed where he was waiting. It wasn't long before the blob crept back, reattaching itself to his tentacle of thought. Neo changed it so that he could receive answers but was prepared to cut the connection if the blob did anything aggressive. Neo again sent the emotions of calmness and kindness, with an added feeling of connection and a feeling of acceptance or rejection, not that the blob had a choice if it wanted to survive.

There were a few moments of intense waiting as Neo wondered if his message was successful or if it had misinterpreted it for something else. But Neo got what he thought was an emotion coming down the line which conveyed acceptance, at which Neo sighed and now pondered how they could actually connect and work together.

Thankful Neo didn’t have to do any thinking as the black blob combined with his white light. As the edge of the blackness spread it turned lighter and lighter shades of black until it was his normal whiteness, the same thing happened to the black blob just in reverse. A strange sensation overcame his thoughts as the instincts started communicating with him as separate thoughts. 'Hmm,' Neo thought, 'I wonder if it'll communicate its every thought to me or what?'

Examining it for Elfin, Neo was sure that he'll be interested in the grey area of the bonding, Neo couldn't tell the difference between where his mind ended and where its emotions took over. Deciding that there was nothing left for him to find he opened his eyes to the darkness, stood up in the salty water, and wondered aloud, "How do I get out of here?"

Going up to the rock surface Neo knocked on the dome until the salt water started retreating into the ground and the dome came down. Neo saw Elfin sitting a way off and instantly the instincts boomed with feelings of danger and annoyance. Neo smiled, "Hey, Master Elfin, it worked out. I haven't been taken over."

Elfin smiled and gestured for him to come over, "Lad, tell me all about it, how it feels, thinks and your own thoughts on it."

After explaining what he'd done, he told Elfin how it communicates through its emotions and then his own thoughts on it, "It was trapped in a corner with nowhere for it to escape, it had to accept otherwise it would be dead, so of course it would accept. But it is a bunch of instincts, it was made for control. Without control it can only react, so if something riles it up it may try to take over to get what it wants. Without a conscious in control of it, even though it's part of me, it still slightly has power over itself. Like right now it wants me to sneak attack you with a punch to the face, I don't know why but it doesn't like you at all. So, yes, I am afraid that it'll try to take control again."

Elfin snorted, "I goaded you earlier into seeing if it could punch me, which it couldn't. But, if control is an issue maybe using the ring to suppress it is a good idea, since that seemed to work partially. I'll also give you instructions to hopefully improve your relationship with it and find a balance. So, we should see if the two of you together can hit me, bye bye, do your best"

Instinct blared a warning and Neo’s muscles tensed seeing what was coming, as Elfin smiled and whispered, "White hole Burst!"

Shivers went down his back, but there was nothing he could do to avoid anything that came from the white hole that popped into existence in front of his chest. As he and the instincts tried to react, two filmy objects appeared that tried to stop the energy and earth from cutting him in half. The blast broke through but only sent him flying through the air. The instinct took over for spilt second so that Neo landed feet first against the cavern wall, sending shockwaves through it that even Bethany could feel and hear as she rested against the wall asleep.

Again, the instincts took control as he pushed of the wall causing another boom to rattle the room. Earthen spears crashed into the wall split seconds after he left it. Neo couldn't think about the disconcerting feeling of losing control like that, he had to think fast, going over the memories he came up with a plan as he kept leaping about, covering metres with each step.

As he did so, Neo got closer to a huge pile of rubble. As soon as he got within range of the rocks he picked them up and aimed them above Elfin, hitting the stalactites causing a few of them to fall. Neo then also threw rubble at either side of Elfin and held a large stone behind his back just in case, then he charged straight at Elfin.

Elfin looked to both sides and simply moved out of the way, which was already an achievement, but it appeared that Neo had that area covered as well as random rubble flew past him. He then looked at Neo and saw him charging at him with a huge excited grin on his face. Elfin held his hand in the air and a huge black hole formed above him, eating the falling objects. He then held his other hand toward Neo, "White hole funnel." As soon as the earth entered the black hole, energy and earth rocketed towards Neo.

He was a few metres away before he buried his clawed hands into the stone and instinct held up the two films again, protecting him from the majority of the debris. The force of the white hole ability was much reduced, as the shield held for much longer before breaking and allowing the energy and projectiles to rip into him. He was thankful he hadn't hit bigger stalactites, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to survive for long enough. As the hail storm passed and the white hole disappeared he ran forward to hit Elfin but was stopped within a metre.

The black hole formed in front of him, stopping him but not the rubble that he had kept behind him, which had shrunk since he had last seen it. He tossed it over the black hole and hit Elfin's head which distracted him from his spell as a bump slowly formed, but Elfin took it in his stride with a smile and a nod, "Well done, sorry abou…" But before he could say any more, instinct overwhelmed Neo for split second with rage. Putting his whole body into it he punched Elfin in the guts, flinging him across the cavern to crash into the wall, causing dirt and rocks to fall from the wall. Neo looked at his fist as he too was very angry with Elfin for doing that and felt no sympathy, but soon he realised he'd just punched an old man across about a hundred metres and into a wall, let alone him being a teacher.

He was about to run over to check when the rubble moved and fell around a gargantuan form. Its own roar shook the room, along with Neo and the instinct’s emotions as fear overwhelmed them.