Being Asked To Go Back

Ciemnosc came out of his commanding vehicle while students who were carrying their fellow's corpses gave long glimpses at it, some with mixed glances like those with frowning unknown, some with discontent of having their close ones in the base felled, others worried to see how their Chief would consider everyone's feeling and troubles.

“Your clothes… what happened to them?” Ciemnosc’s team closed in as soon as the sound of his commanding vehicle’s motor made its appearance, and when they saw Ciemnosc’s clothes going from his modern uniform to his old but better now humble stylized clothes, looking mighty handsome but the change was still there.

“Oh. They got destroyed, completely.” Ciemnosc stored his commanding vehicle, for the whole huge thing would take too much space for the rest of students to continue working, and said while looking down and patting his chest with both hands.

“Woah…” - “Heard that?” - “The Genius also fought in that place! I knew it!” - “Who the hell would think otherwise? It’s obvious he did it for the base’s sake. Come on, let’s go…”

A few voices came and went, for Ciemnosc didn’t tone down his volume at all, Missa and his other teammates could only smile and shake their heads a little bit in response to his antics. Missa then signaled to… just everywhere with her right hand slapping her right leg, “So what do we do with the loot? The bodies are getting ready, the armored cars are being prepared to move our fallen people in an hour, the ceremony would begin around just before the evening.”

“I’ll be there, no worries.” Ciemnosc said first, his right hand raised, he could feel the tension in Missa’s voice, their casualties were still casualties. Though she was becoming an iron maiden of sorts, she still had a heart big enough to care about every student who used to be peaceful just over half a year ago and would have a life of complacency and normalcy.

“...” Then, without saying anything else, Ciemnosc looked around at the students. They didn’t seem that tired, though some were really tired while most of those who got injured were up in terms of vigor and energy. He then looked at his teammates once more before continuing, “Pick up the armored cars and get 40% of their numbers to be recycled, we are making cannons out of them.”

“Cannons? Are they that needed right now?” Ciemnosc heard Leen speak as she looked around, seemingly noticing the incredible weakness of the technological advantage that the major organizations had over the academy and the entire west. He looked at her, and with his eyes calming her down somewhat, strangely, he spoke to her and them all at the same time.

“We will, those waters cannot be left alone without supervision against the major organizations for too long, or worse will come off in the future, and not even more protective barriers would help in diminishing the casualties like it has been today.” Ciemnosc’s voice wasn’t gentle, but it seemed to be, also in some way having turned mature; very strangely.

“You’ve changed a bit… what’s up?” Missa asked, her eyebrows frowning, but not in the bad kind, she really looked curious and also confused. Ciemnosc looked at her, face to face more or less before stepping forth and placing his right hand on her left shoulder. “I may be doing changes to how I teach you, and others, of Spirit Sense and Craftsmaking… respectively.”

“Also, try and let the word run that I…” Ciemnosc slightly paused to a complete halt of his words, filling his teammates with expectation and anticipation. Before long, he continued with a devilish little grin on the left corners of his mouth and even tilted his chin slightly down along his head. “Am going to start giving free lessons of the most elementary and foundational needs for one starting to Craft creations.”

“...?” Missa had a surprised pout on her face, while Fatima also had a pout, she and the other 3 raised their eyebrows and crossed their arms to look at him, in synchronization. Fatima spoke this time, while Gallah habitually stayed silent still; for now. “We’re worried, Ciemnosc. Are you sure it should be free? The way those Craftspeople behave every time after a class is even worse than when the leading students attend an old teacher, supervisor or the very own headmaster’s lectures in the Grand Lecture Hall… you’d be losing out.”

“It won’t be to just anyone, I’ll only allow those who understand the base’s aim to enter, and I won’t be letting any more of those who keep babbling bullshit of my base still being the academy’s pet or toy. Start telling the others to keep a watch on them, they’d be going back to report in the nights, your academy seems to really not understand the kind of power I’m building for them.”

“...” Ciemnosc’s teammates fell silent, it was true that they had also seen those ‘enthusiasts’ that would appear in the common places for students, where they drank, hooked up and chatted about just anything, even the training grounds had people like these every now and then.

Their simple actions attracted more attention that they probably thought it would, trying to remind the students of the base of the incredibly easy and comforting life inside the academy’s grounds, its territory; and the hellish treatment they receive here as even leading students are being seen as ordinary students other than in the middle of a battle.

And for the first arriving and first batch of new students, who were barely getting to know the world and were starting to found their hearts, paths and bodies in the hardship such as life, that came easy onto them and gnawed deeply at their thoughts and the ideals that Ciemnosc wanted to brand them with. To not be ‘the academy’s’, but to be the academy’s reason for their immense power in the future.

“It’s not all of them, not at all!” Fatima spoke out for her beloved academy with a delicate but toughened up tone, her arms still crossed as she stepped forth once, standing side to side with Missa while everyone looked at her. She continued, her eyes indeed a bit saddened, seeing her home treating her and her teammates as well as every student here of their best efforts to… seemingly trying to take it away.

“There are some supervisors, even deans and old teachers who are more than willing to see the academy go to war. The benefits are enormous, you know it Ciemnosc. The headmaster and vice-headmaster don’t control them all, the current peak is the Obsidiafying realm, right? Well, though they are a smaller group compared to the rest in the academy’s upper echelon, all of them are at the peak of the peak!”

“That’s why, Ciemnosc, if you were to grow strong enough yourself to the point you also become an Obsidiafying realm cultivator, able of probably even getting to take a seat beside those greedy old teachers, supervisors and a few deans… They are afraid you would destroy the little division they had made, but the others support you!” Fatima said all these words, her arms crossed and her fingers somewhat tightened in semi claws at her own arms, feeling so anxious.

It seemed, in Ciemnosc’s eyes and in truth, that these teammates of his have already recognized their doing and his doing here as well as what he could be planning, and that has also made them realize what the so-called old teachers, supervisors and deans were thinking of as well. They weren’t as well versed in machinations as the major organizations, both his people and those greedy ones, but they were starting to grow just in that way.

It almost felt like he was going through gramma Jing Zhu’s steps… but he won’t. He couldn’t.

“That’s right, everyone could see the light in the eyes of the headmaster when we were marching towards here, they not only trust you but hope you can return the academy to a stable internal position. You might even get to be betrothed to the little princess of the academy!” Missa joined in, Leen nodding with her cute nose being slightly dragged down by her mouth-opened, lips-closed antics.

“Calm down,” Ciemnosc lifted his left hand and faced his palm down before lowering it, letting go of Missa’s right arm and taking a couple of steps back himself. “I’m not trying to go against the academy, nor anything similar. I’m trying to build my own forces here, one that nobody will think of trying to take it away. Not from my hands, not from your hands and not against their own will.”

“While I might have chosen you among the hundreds of thousands of elite students, leading students or students nearing the leading student ascension, I have also chosen the right people for what I needed.” Ciemnosc honestly said, his teammates weren’t feeling hurt for they were adults and not dumb idiots despite being sheltered since birth, just as none of them seem to be together and fuck each other’s brains out without none of them crying out for bullshit.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Your Spirit Senses are the ones who I found the most naturally pleasing to… ‘nature’; and though I couldn’t tell so much about it back then, I can now.” Ciemnosc praised them quietly, making their little hearts feel excited and at ease, hidden beneath their calm, neutral faces. “Your growth isn’t impulsed by pills or tools, though that isn’t a bad thing, I recognize there is no worthwhile such items existing yet. And your Spirit Senses are all stable despite being more than what they should be.”

“That makes you unique already, but…” Ciemnosc took Missa’s hands at this moment, his palms below hers as he supported them, and her honored heart, with candidness. “It is the heart and acceptance that you have shown me what makes me feel successful for ending up with you by all my sides.”

“Ciemnosc…” Missa muttered silently, her eyebrows arching up gently and slightly, while the eyes of the rest turned warm, gentler too.

“And worse things may come off at any moment,” Ciemnosc said, grasping her hands tighter at the same time and tensing his tone a bit, as well as elevating it once again for the students that were purposely slowly walking around - to hear. “I must prepare you, and do it well. I must train them, and weed out the nuisances already. We will arm our people to their teeth, and then…”

Making a slightly brief pause, Ciemnosc continued with a gush of wind coming from behind him and fluttering his mid-long hair forwards towards his teammates. “We will take the waters of this Region for ourselves.”

“!!” The students around, having heard of the Little Lake from years ago even and becoming even more amazed by it with their one and only visit, which the most of them didn’t get to visit and only a small part of the current troops have bathed and swum in, making them even more apprehensive of the Little Lake; became astounded hearing these words of their big bad boss.

“Tomorrow, send a messenger back to the academy and rely the news of this victory, don’t be shy to record the 30 cannons in my small pockets and the 750 armored cars that we gained as a result!” Ciemnosc spoke, out loud and over Missa’s head as he let go of her hands, from which hers moved on to his neck, accommodating his collar which seemed wet for whatever reason which she didn’t know of he didn’t clean properly with his Power Energy before dressing up.

“Long live the Chief!” - “Cough, too much…” - “Ah, right… erm… Praise the Genius Chief!” - “Nice save!” - “Praise the Chief!” - “Praise the Chief!!” - “Praise our fallen!” - “Praise our dead!” - “Praise their hearts!” - “... and their lives!” - “Fuck the major organizations!” - “To hell with them!” - “Fuck the world!” - “Hahaha…”

The atmosphere of the students went from their tired countenances to a slow, very slow change into a livid sensation and facial expression. The shouts that were not even being heard, began to be heard, and more and more by the almost zombie-like walking few students moving fellow students’ corpses. Mostly completely but some were needed of various liquid-holding sacks to be held.

And what began as Ciemnosc talking out loud, with slow and slightly loud shouts emerging from all around; spread over to the entire battlefield of the now past all the way where the last few armored cars were fleeing for their lives before being intercepted by a few students lying in ambush before; all of it - before.

Loud and sonorous, bold and laughing or chuckling; shouts emanated from the students who were now moving all around with vigor - as if with purpose now. They might be loud, to the point that it could be considered to be interrupting the ‘eternal sleep’ of the felled, but the way they held their bodies, even in sacks, was even different. It was as if they, now, were ‘warmly’ bringing them back to the base and to be escorted to the Little Lake like the living were the parents and the felled were the brides.

It was a stupid notion; but it looked so nice all around despite its brutal ugliness.

“Tomorrow send the messenger, tonight we mourn.” Ciemnosc said, once more, his eyes looking to the west where there was some orange in the skies. Missa, Fatima, Leen and Gallah relaxed their arms and looked around, feeling that even if they wanted to join in with the other students, including leading students, the very same wouldn’t let them. They had already done their job, anyway, and had to see these students die to their own orders and the Chief’s.

“Mn.” The four nodded, agreed and fell silent right afterwards.

… That night, as the ceremony had begun, the Little Lake accompanied and was receiving another batch of corpses, which hadn’t been coming since several months ago, so many months ago.

Ciemnosc felt, somehow, a nostalgia that belonged not only to only himself, but to everywhere around him and everywhere the corpses floated as they slowly turned to ashes and the flames of their large rafts even seemed to go underwater without hindrances of any kind or degree.

The burning lines of names slowly came up, burning each and every name that had fallen in today’s battle. A silence so beautiful it could break one’s mind away in tears tore open and decorated daintily all of the Little Lake; which could be seen ‘becoming more silent’ than ever before, from the afternoon to the morning of the next day.

It was a bit of a long, but calm, walk back to the base with the armored cars driving at below walking speed right behind the now less than 260,000 students.

. . .

2 days later, in the early morning and 10 minutes after Ciemnosc wanted to move. Out of his bed, to open his eyes and dress up, as it is with every day.

After having that weird, unique occasion/encounter with the pure energy and water of the Little Lake, as if a natural disaster but instead one that could be considered like the doing of gods for ordinary people but was much more unknowingly terrifying instead for cultivators; as they were the ones who supposedly were gods for those very same ordinary people or even for the little, normal sized and big animals out there in the wild without being a Creature…

In any case, though that might be for any other living being, mostly so for those who have pure energy running through their bodies or structural bodies, one way or another. For Ciemnosc, that event was just and pure… life. He could even, now, understand from where did their playfulness and ‘naughtiness’ to be able to so randomly ‘play’ like that came from.

But it wasn’t just an even for Ciemnosc as well, his cultivation with just that one day, not only extremely solidified as of usual, he also found his goddamn bloated self which was already like so before arriving at the ships, to forcefully breakthrough into the 8th stage of the Spirit Gathering realm.

It was not in the same way as it has been whenever a cultivator used as many outside resources to break through into any stage or even a lower realm than the Spirit Gathering realm, for there were never the type of medicines who could just help with that ever in history; not directly and on their own at least.

There was still too much pure energy that engulfed Ciemnosc that day, and it was of such different quality that couldn’t even be compared to what a Supreme Powerful Stones could ever amount to, none other than Ciemnosc could know that so very well.

And when Ciemnosc was finding so many different things in both cultivation and… just ‘life’... that he felt he somehow already knew but just didn’t face off before, he ended up wondering one single thing about himself while the pure energy and water were in the middle of playing…

Just what the hell was he?! Why? Who? What? When? And whatever the fuck as well!

Ciemnosc was just about to open his eyes, his left hand simulating as if his Claws Out were already out and scratching himself slightly and comfortably with them on the very center of his chest. Close to his sternum and to the right of his heart, a bit upwards as well; when a hurrying leading students spokesperson came rushing to the entrance of the large tent and with her delicate, melancholic voice, she spoke out loud and clear into the tent.

“Chief in Command, a letter has arrived from the academy, they are asking you to set a date to come back. The headmaster would like to give you your respective rewards of the recent events, as well as the academy itself would like to cooperate with you. Chief, what are we gonna do?!” The voice semi-shouted as she spoke, Ciemnosc stopped his left hand, from which he heard a clicking and drew his attention away from the leading student spokesperson for a second.

His left handed fingernails had just now felt like they had become overgrown out of nowhere, retracting right as he sent the— faster than —instantaneous thought of retracting his hand from his chest. And somehow, Ciemnosc saw only darkness shaped with his body, tendrils coming from his hand, his body, his being…

“Chief?” The leading student spokesperson entered one step into his large tent, receiving no response, she went into his personal bedroom and entered it, gasping first but not even then being noticed. He was big. But! It was only when she spoke to him with her melancholic voice that he ‘awakened’ from his previous stupor.

‘He must be afflicted by the previous battle, right? It’s his previous side against his new people, it must be so hard on him.’ Thought the young woman with naivete, when she noticed Ciemnosc’s head from the upper corner of her eyes turn towards her. Somehow, she felt 2 extreme sets of emotions, all too distant from the other set.

One set of extreme emotions was terror, shuddered by coldness that could freeze it all; ultimately cold. A subservience like that of a mindless slave, and the longing of his will.

The other one set of extreme emotions was connection, accompanied with comfort and paramount dependency. It made her feel as if she was in the arms of her long lost father, and that being in contact with his body, hearing Ciemnosc’s words speak to her as he embraced her would be akin to forming part of himself… of it all.

“Come.” His words, like the only ones she needed to live even if she were to go through the harshest of lives, were hers to be commanded by him.

…