Three days had passed since Acacia had regained control of his body, after a century of merging together the aspects of his future selves, desperately containing their thoughts, emotions, consciousness, and knowledge. If not for the protective runes embedded within the black tower, his soul, and body would most likely have been broken down into an empty husk.
Loud violent coughs echoed from the walls in the enclosed tower.
“Damn it! I thought this was a health issue, but this is abnormal!”
Acacia coughed violently, he felt an empty chilliness from inside his very soul growing larger, and more deadly.
A black scar started tattoo decorate his chest, and a deep profound fear enveloped him. While Acacia did not see the scar, he felt it's existence, and could feel the darkness converge at the centre of his body.
“To think temporarily being in the same time period as that creature already tainted my soul! That bastard is actually trying to consume me from the future!”
Acacia's face distorted in fury as he drew the vast mana residing in his body to isolate the growing black scar forming on his skin, and in his body.
“Scram!”
With a violent roar, Acacia forced his internal mana to crush the invasive magic in a primitive, and violent manner.
After a vicious episode of coughing; did he finally calm down. That thing lives at the end of time for this planet, however that thing still lacked the power to exist in the present, and the past. But who knows how long before that reasoning no longer holds, and it obtained a state of omnipresence in this world.
From the corner of his red eyes, a white fur ball eyed Acacia curiously with it's large blue eyes.
“Mew?”
“So what do I intend to do right?”
“Mew.”
“In order for me to ensure that kid's birth, means I make an enemy of nearly half the world, and that's not considering how I can safeguard her life until she grows up! A lone kid like me with no money or influence can't do anything against those odds.”
“Mew.”
“Correct! You are a genius Pinky. In order for me to oppose them I need help!”
“Meow!”
“No! Humans in general are tied to each other, and society, they are sheep that inherently like to flock together, they wag their tails to those in power, they would betray me at the drop of a hat, no sane person would side with me, unless thoroughly brain washed or incredibly dependent people. This is why many thieves guild recruit their members from orphans, and street kids. They are the easiest to control, and claim loyalty from.”
“Mew.”
“Elves, Demons, etc, they all have a functioning society, morale compass, and deep seated attachments, they are no good either, don't forget most of the well known developed races moved against her birth.”
“Meww?”
“Good question. Let me ask you, in these past one hundred years, what happened to these Vajra lands?”
The fluffy miniature cat gestured, and danced around.
“Hmm, as expected a sweeping air borne disease wiped out many villager around this region, eventually forcing them to abandon these lands, and allowed the wilderness to expand unchecked. Over the course of many years various monsters have made their homes in these lands. Primitive gremlins have taken over the hills, Lamias have invaded the swamps, Nagas have built primitive temples in the rivers, and Wyverns have taken over the ancient forests.”
“Mew!”
A vicious smile formed on Acacia's face.
“Correct, they are also apart of this world, what is wrong with having them save it? I'll force salvation down everyone's throat with a sword pointed at their backs. In order to prevent that future, I won't hesitate to burn half the world!”
“Mew?”
“A lot of them lack real intelligence, or concepts of modern culture, I'll have to find way to work around that, and form communication magic with all those species, in some cases I might have to forcefully dominate them.”
“Mewo, Mew meew meoow.”
“You're half right, Pinky”
The cat lay on the floor, while cleaning her fur.
“I still intend to have some people help me, do you know a major event that will happen two years from now?”
Pinky rolled on the floor exposing her tummy, Acacia walked up the fur ball, and scratched her belly.
“In two years time, a legendary brigade of bandits that terrorized the countryside were all found dead in the Parl hills, next to thirty corpses lay a single young girl around 8 years old. The little girl was needless to say dead, covered in fatal wounds, however in her hands was a blood soaked dagger. It was said the little girl had slain these legendary bandits by herself. Apparently her race, name, family, and nationality were all shrouded in mystery. The event created quite a buzz, so even when I wasn't directly involved, I still heard of it.”
The tiny cat tilted it's head in confusion.
“Whats the big deal you say? Each one of those bandits were elites, that could easily kill several veteran soldiers, if the rumours are true that kid is a natural monster!”
Pinky snuggled around Acacia's leg, and purred softly.
“You're a smart one! Yes, I intend to save that kid from a torturous death, and have her as my disciple, with my various knowledge, and talents, I will forge her into a legend. Their were too many burgeoning talents that died young, or unjustly. Never to make a mark in the annals of history.”
“Mew?”
“Since my tainted body has too many uncertainties, I will have her as my sword, and shield.”
The cat looked at Acacia with bright glowing eyes.
“Of course I expect failure, but it never hurts to try. A fool who only plans for success, and never failure is naive!”
After an incredibly long conversation between child, and cat, Acacia went out of the tower to collect food by picking plants, herbs and berries. In one of his future selves he was a hermit that lived off the land, so he could discern edible plants from non-edible ones.
Stolen novel; please report.
He could on sigh in depression occasionally, “I could not control who I am in the future, or their actions, so a lot of useless information was passed on to me. Apparently one of my future selves was a lousy, and useless debauchee that spent most of his life, visiting brothels, and gambling, what kind of a useless bastard I was, If only I could strangle that useless asshole for wasting my time, when so much in the world is at stake!”
He also witnessed scenarios where he walked into a well and died, when he died from food poisoning over a mushroom he found in the woods, or was caught cheating with a powerful noble's wife, and executed.
Acacia wanted to strangle each, and everyone of those idiots.
While picking fruits he accidentally pricked his finger, the bright red liquid oozed out of the tiny wound.
I stared at the blood absentmindedly, a powerful headache assailed me, and vicious images of the future caused me to choke on my spit, and nearly scream in terror. I bit my lip tightly till blood oozed out, the shock of pain cleared my mind, and allowed me to regain control of my body.]
My entire body shivered as I desperately tried to blot out those memories.
“Shit! Even though I'm going to see a lot of blood in the future, to think just a little sent me into a frenzied mess!”
A deep sense of hatred, embarrassment, and anger enveloped me. But those feelings were useless if nothing productive came out of it. After exhaling a long, slow breath, I decided on my course of action.
“For now, I should train in my magic, it's not good if I have memories of it, but no physical foundation, or training in my body for it. Since my body was made inactive for so long, and my soul finally became anew, I need to re-familiarize myself with the world.”
I walked up the spiraling staircase into the entrance of the 8th floor. My master has made some of the floors as a training ground for harmonizing oneself with the elements. Unlike Wizards who primarily spend a vast amount of their time studying, us sages feel the laws of the material, and immaterial world with our bodies, and minds.
My teacher sought to gain a deep understanding of the laws of fire, wind, earth, water and spirit. While studying also has its merits, it is secondary to first hand experiences that us sages value. However that same precept causes the majority of the civilized world to look down on sages, because our training borders on self torture.
I entered the empty room, that had runic carvings plastered all over the walls. A single elevated stone platform sat in the middle of the featureless room. I closed the metal door behind me, and went to sit on the platform. After crossing my legs, I emptied my mind, and allowed the mana to flow around my body form the centre of my being.
Mana felt like a gentle warmth expanding in my body, I moved the mana towards my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and exposed skin. By moving mana towards all my senses, I heighten them to become more sensitive, and alert. Mana has a multiplier affect towards physical characteristics of the host that it covers.
For example, if mana was poured into a spider web, it could enhance several specific characteristics. A spider web can be sticky, soft, flexible, and depending on the creature that created it, hard. By manipulating the mana of an object, I can multiply the stickiness attributes of the web.
The same theory can be applied to the human body.
As I cleared my mind, a gentle tingling sensation could be felt in the room, drops of water slowly rained from the ceiling. The cool water brushed gently against my skin. Eventually the gentle summer rain turned into a thunderous rain storm, pounding against my body. I could sense a building pool of water growing larger, and larger.
It reached my legs, then my arms, then up to my neck, eventually the entire room was filled with water, and I was locked in the platform I sat in. I could feel the oxygen leaving me, the cool embrace of water enveloping me, and the silent pressure weighing down on me threatening to crush me.
My body eventually felt rigid, and I could feel the threat of death looming. The cool water, turned colder, and colder. At first my skin felt itchy, then numb, then the water felt like thick cold blocks, that burned my skin with an icy cold flame.
My body was frozen in Ice.
I could feel my mind slowing down, my warm legs eventually turned into numb lead, my body rapidly shivered in futility trying to warm up, and flashes of pain extended all over my body. I could feel bit, by bit, inch by inch my body was slowly slowly dying.
The elusive grasp of a bony hand mired by the stench of death reached out to me. As it's bony hand was about to touch my soul, the ice turned to a thick mist, and the walls sucked up the mist, leaving the room completely empty.
The lone figure in the room sat still for many hours like a frozen statue. Eventually the eyes wavered, revealing piercing red eyes.
“To be at the imperceptible border of life and death, is to finally know your true self, and the world around you. I don't think I can ever get used to this, master.”
Acacia weakly hobbled to the exit, the tiny cat sat patiently outside the door waiting for him, it began to rub against his leg.
“No need, I'm not gonna feel warm from something like that.”
The cat eyed Acacia curiously.
Acacia coughed irritably, he transferred the mana to his muscles, organs and bones. He then stared back at the cat.
“Can't stop now, I still have to deal with the other elements.”
“Mew.”
“Who the hell are you calling a masochist!”
Notes:Long weekend, so I'm posting a chapter because I have free time, btw I just realized the description explains almost nothing about the plot or direction I plan to go. This chapter was specifically made so you can generally understand where I'm going with this.
As for why I don't fix the description?
I like being vague, and slightly misleading.