Chapter 1

Did I lose my mind?

Klint was going through the same motions as he always did. Wake up, eat breakfast - breakfast was subjective however as it was 5:00pm when he ate breakfast - go to work, and come home. Klint worked 13 hours a day leaving very little time to spend with his son or to do anything he enjoyed. "There has to be more to life than just working, I don't even have enough time to try and stay in shape anymore."

Klint was closing in on 40 years old, 38 to be exact. Klint was always a dreamer, thoughts filled with inventions or fighting in great battles to decide the fate of the world. "I've wasted my life dreaming about things I can't actually achieve and now I'm stuck in a job I don't like with no chance of making THE DISCOVERY I know each human is capable of making."

The world is a big place, but every day science was filling in the gaps of our understanding of what was possible. But by that same note there was new inventions and discoveries being made every day. this was making life easier in a lot of ways but also less dependent on ourselves and more dependent on technology. Klint spent almost all his free time alone, what free time he did have was while everyone else was asleep, so it made it that much harder to get anything useful done.

This was a blessing as much as it was a curse, Klint started meditating a few months ago and now he was certain that there is more to being human than what meets the eye. His whole life Klint felt there was something missing with each of us. Now with his meditation he could focus on the "hole" in the core of himself. Exploring that feeling he could feel that if it could be fed....Something, it would radiate through every inch of his body.

"The best way to describe this would be like a puzzle piece that is missing. I think people with depression feel this hole more than other people, they can feel that missing piece more intensely than most people. I used to fall into that camp, I however learned to bury the paralyzing side effects of depression. Now that I'm meditating on that feeling I can really feel how its connected to every part of what I do, and not just physically but emotionally as well."

"The only thing is though; I don't know what to feed it. Enough of my musing, it's time to get back to my hike." Klint was hiking through the Nevada desert. In the mountains of Northern Nevada. It was the same hike he did once a week on his second day off of work. He was currently resting on the top of a medium sized hill. Being out of shape he was quite out of breath by the time he reached top.

As Klint started down the other side of the hill he felt something pulling on that hole in his core. Listening to that feeling Klint sat down and started to meditate on it, to try and see exactly what it was he was feeling and why. "Danger" it said to him. At first a whisper, but the more he focused on it the loader it became. it wasn't a sound he was hearing but a gut feeling. Then it was a direction, back to the top of the hill.

Once Klint got back to the top of the hill he saw it, how did he not see it before he didn't know. "My guess is since I've been meditating it has awoken something in me and I couldn't see it until it resonated with my core pit." What Klint saw was a tear in the fabric of reality. it was spherical in shape but unlike a solid sphere it was more like a negative sphere. pulling into itself rather than projecting anything.

Once Klint set eyes on the negative sphere he felt a pressure on his core pit, it spread through every cell of his body but deeper than that it resonated with his very soul. "I've got to figure out a better name than "core pit". But whatever this is it's calling to me, promising glory and danger."

Klint wanted to resist the call but before he knew it he was spiraling through the inverted sphere, the tear in reality. It took every bit of will power Klint had but he still lost consciousness. It wasn't like being knocked out, more like a blackout from too many G-force. As Klint vision came back the first thing he noticed was the crimson sky, it was beautiful and terrifying.

"I'm in a different reality, did it finally happen? Did I lose my mind? I've been scared of this for the last 10 years having most of my thoughts be based in fantasy rather than reality."

As Klint was contemplating what was happening he was interrupted by a giant scorpion coming out of the ground, he was frozen in place. The scorpion had to be eight feet long and its back came up to his knee's with its tail's arc peaking at close to shoulder height.

Luckily the scorpion hadn't seen him yet, as Klint took a step away from the scorpion the sound of his foot hitting the ground drew its attention. "It figures the one time I decide to take my Katana instead of one of my guns." Klint had brought his sword, a backpack with some beef jerky and two bottles of water. looking for the sphere he entered this realm through he realized it was gone, and he was stuck here. "Crap Crap Crap, what do I do!?"

The scorpion started running for him, but either it wasn't very fast or it wasn't showing its true speed. Klint was able to outpace the scorpion but scared of running into more creatures, he decided to test its limits of maneuverability. If Klint could defeat it here that would give him time to collect himself and assess his situation. At six feet from the scorpion, the scorpion could keep up the rotation to keep Klint Infront of it. At three feet Klint was outpacing the rotation of the scorpion. But that was dangerously close.

Starting to get out of breath Klint ran about thirty feet away from the scorpion, he didn't want to go too far from where the scorpion had come up from the ground, but he figured thirty feet was safe. As he got about 25 feet away the scorpion stopped and so did Klint. "Okay, Okay it looks like this thing knows it can't chase me and is giving up."

After Klint caught his breath, he decided to test out the intelligence of the scorpion. "Bigger body bigger brain, right?" Klint bent over and grabbed a fist sized rock off the ground then threw it to the other side of the scorpion. When the rock hit the ground Klint started running for the scorpion, anticipating the scorpion would turn to the rock, Klint drew his Katana. Just as he hoped, the scorpion turned He was about 10 feet from the tail when the scorpion started turning back around but it was too late. He slashed with all his strength and cut half of the scorpions tail off.

"Yes! Yes Yes Yes! Now that the biggest threat the scorpion has, has been eliminated I should be able to take this thing down!" Retreating back out of the scorpions pincers distance Klint started to think about figuring out other weakness the scorpion might have. Reaching to the ground again He scooped a handful of loose dirt.

Klint came in close and threw the dirt in the scorpions eye blinding it momentarily then dodging to the side he made two fast slashes for the scorpions front two legs, the first cut took off the leg but the second just bounced off. "I guess I got lucky on the first leg hitting it in the joint, the exo skeleton is pretty hard I'll need to be more accurate in the future.

With the scorpions tail gone and one leg missing the scorpion wasn't much threat anymore, He could easily get to the side of it and put distance between them, Klint chose to put some distance between him and the scorpion to catch his breath again and consider how best to kill this monster. After a minute or two He walked closer to the scorpion.

Klint gripped his Katana with both hands and started running for the side of the scorpion again, this time he cut off the second leg then the third until finally the scorpion didn't have any legs left on the right side of its body. "One side down two to go." Repeating the same thing on the left side. The scorpion could not move at all now.

Klint came around to the front of the scorpion and severed the two pincers, then with a hard downward thrust stabbed through the shell and into the main body, when the scorpion didn't die, he retched his Katana free and stabbed again and again. Out of nowhere he was hit with a wave of pain and Exstacy as something started funneling into his body.

It came straight into his chest, into that core that was once so empty, from there it started spreading through his entire body every cell, every inch of him. The pain was extraordinary as his spirit was awakened and stretched. Building and building the pain filled him completely until it receded. it felt like it took hours for the pain to go away but Klint had no idea how long it actually took.

His sight became a little sharper, his body became a little lighter, he could smell and hear a little better and he was no longer out of breath. But more than any of that he could "see" he could see with his spirit now not far and not well. But compared to not being able to before, it was like seeing for the first time.

Every shrub had a little bit of life, and they shown to him like they were made of glowing light. but at the same time was twisted and dead. He could see the ground as well with his spirit sight but it was more muted. He found if he closed his eyes it was easier to focus on particular plants, but opening his eyes didn't completely remove that either. Looking back to where the scorpion was, he saw it was gone, and in its place was a red vial a blue vile and a purple vial.

"What in the heck are these? If this is anything like a video game then these must be recovery items, red is for health. Blue is for mana, but what is purple for? I've never seen a purple recovery item when I would play rpg's. maybe its an anti toxin of some kind, I mean I did just fight a scorpion so that would make sense."

Klint picked up the vials and put them in his backpack, then he realized that if there was a mana potion then maybe he had mana now. Excited Klint dropped to the ground and started meditating, he explored everything that his spirit had become. Now that he could feel it and could use it to see he realized that it was his spirit that was empty not a pit. Well, it was like a pit but now it was more than that. It no longer hurt him to be so empty, like the depression once had. It knew what it wanted and so did Klint, It wanted to grow.

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Even with all of these changes Klint didn't feel like he had changed all that much. Only now he felt as though he had the potential for real growth. Only his spirit had actually changed. But he could now feel his spirit connected with every part of his being. breaking away from his meditation Klint stood up and started to look around. "This can't be real. I've dreamed about this my entire life, no one is going to believe me. Wait, how am I supposed to get home? Where am I, and what is this place?"

As Klint panic started to arise he started running looking for something familiar. "Thats just it though, this whole area is familiar. I need to get home." After two and a half minutes of running He hit an invisible barrier which knocked him to the ground. "What in the World was that?" Out of breath and confused Klint just laid there for a minute before getting to his feet.

As he stood up Klint saw he was bleeding from his arm. He had cut it on the ground when he fell. It was bleeding but not very bad. more like a deep scrape than a clean cut. Klint felt for the invisible barrier and was horrified when his hand stopped cold in place. "Okay that's a little creepy." looking around he could see the top of the hill he'd run down from. "I guess I should go back to the top and get my sword, I can have a look around from there too."

"This is the third time I've climbed this hill today; I wonder if I'll have to fight another giant scorpion?" The idea of having to fight another one of those without his sword was horrifying. "I don't think I can do it without my Katana." As Klint reached the top of the hill he was relieved when he saw his sword and no giant scorpion. Picking up his katana Klint looked around. Other than the crimson sky everything looked close to the same, close but not exactly. Everything had more of a dead feel and look to it.

"Is this some kind of shadow realm? Shadow realm, that has a good ring to it." Not knowing he was trying to think of what to call the place Klint decided that that would be its name. looking around the shadow realm he couldn't see the barrier that he ran into. "I need to find my way out of here." Once again Klint started walking down the hill but this time he went down the other side, moving more slowly and carefully (he didn't want to run face first into the barrier again) he walked with his hand out in front of him.

Five minutes of walking later his hand struck the barrier again. this time Klint had a plan, He made a mark on the ground, a Big X dug into the ground with his foot. Klint then started walking to his left with his hand in constant contact with the barrier. He was looking for a gap in the barrier, a direction to progress to. What seemed like an hour later, Klint saw the X he left on the ground. "I appear to be trapped in this place. The top of the hill seems to be the center of the barrier."

Annoyed, Klint started to climb the hill for the fourth time. Arriving back at the top of the hill he pulled one of his water bottles out of his backpack. He took a small drink then poured some on his scraped arm, looking in amazement his arm already had scabs on it. That should have been a day or two of healing and its only been an hour. Taking out a piece of jerky, Klint ate a few bites and took another drink of water. "What do I do now? I'm completely trapped inside this barrier."

Remembering his new spirit sight, he tried feeling for the barrier it was hard at first as he had no idea how to use it or how to focus on what he wanted to see. Then he finally felt it, and not just part of it but the whole thing, it extended in a perfect sphere around him even through the ground." I guess I cant tunnel under it, not that I have a shovel with me anyway." Klint could now feel everything inside that sphere and could see everything since he was on top of the hill. There was nothing for him there no clues as how to get out and no pathway forward.

However he could see something, the vials in his backpack shone like the sun to his spiritual sight, Grabbing the three vials Klint pulled them out of his Backpack. "Maybe I need to drink these to move forward?" Staring at the vials He was hesitant. "What if these kill me? they could be poisonous for me to drink. I don't really see any other option here." He grabbed the Blue vial and uncorked it, with another moment of hesitation Klint drank the vial. "Bottoms up."

With a cool and not unpleasant taste, he drank every drop of the vial. Then he immediately regretted that decision. Now being able to feel his spirit it was twisting and growing adding a new area in his soul, it was the most excruciating pain he has ever felt even more so than when he felt the essence of the scorpion flooding into him. This was more concentrated focusing only on his spirit and there was no pleasure to go along with it this time. The pain kept growing and growing until Klint finally passed out.

When Klint finally woke up he could feel what was like a small puddle inside him, he could feel how large it could become hand the slow trickle that was filling it up. "I guess I was right and wrong, it wasn't a mana recovery potion, it gave me a small mana pool and started my mana production." Then he said outloads to himself. "No pain no gain. What will the red one do if my recovery has already sped up?" Grabbing the red vial Klint uncorked it and drank.

Going through another round of pain, this one physical and spiritual, He was able to keep himself from passing out this time. He wanted to feel what exactly it was changing in him but unfortunately the pain was the only thing he could focus on. When the pain passed and Klint could catch his breath, he felt another small puddle in him next to his mana pool. This one also with a small trickle filling it up. The only difference is this time the pool was three quarters full already.

Looking at the scab on his arm he could watch as it was healing before his eyes, in a few more minutes he would be fully healed. "Thats nice but I don't really want to test out what I can heal from. What is the purple vial going to do? Before he drank it he could feel the barrier growing thinner. "Okay it seems as though I was right, and I can't move forward until I drink the last vial." Not wanting to go through the pain again, Klint hesitated. After a few minutes he took the purple vile and drank.

This vile didn't hurt at the beginning, but he could feel his soul, his spirit and his body as three separate entities. he then felt them start to overlap, trying to stitch themselves into one that was three becoming whole. the pain was so sudden and so violent that he passed out again. After waking up Klint just laid down not moving, everything he just went through was what he always wanted but he didn't expect it to be so painful. He was living in a fantasy right now and wanted to see how long it would last until he woke up.

Sending out a spiritual probe to the barrier Klint felt it was gone. He now could feel more creatures, three to be exact. All on a different side of the hill. one scorpion and two he didn't recognize but from the feel of the he thought one was a giant lizard and one was a giant snake. Beyond the three creatures he could feel Klint could also feel something far off in the distance, not a creature but something else. Putting his backpack back on and grabbing his katana Neil started for the Scorpion. "Might as well fight the one I know first."

When Klint was about forty feet away he stopped. not seeing the scorpion, he remembered the first one burst from the ground. Klint grabbed a rock and threw it to where he felt the scorpion was at, when the rock landed the scorpion burst from the ground. Spinning in all directions the scorpion was looking for the offender that intruded on its domain. The it burst forward running at Klint. "What's going on? I'm well outside its range based on our last encounter."

The scorpion was fast! much faster than last time. Its pincers started to glow and Klint started to think he was in trouble. Unsheathing his katana Neil ran for the scorpion. "This better work!" At the last second Klint side stepped just as the pincers snapped for his now relocated legs, Klint swung his katana down hard and lopped off one pincer, but that left him open to a tail strike from the scorpion. Luckily, he could see it and was able to spin out of the way just in time to dodge the strike.

The scorpion spun to get Klint in front of him again, and he back stepped to dodge another pincer attack. After back stepping two more times Klint was able to create a bit of space where he could reset his grip on his katana. Going back in, Klint side stepped the scorpion again and this time went for one of its leg's. his sword striking true he was able to take a leg off. "Yes, that should hinder your mobility." To Klint dismay the scorpion seemed to get more ferocious and hit Klint in the leg hard with the back side of its remaining pincer.

Feeling like his leg was about to break and Klint ran back from the scorpion barley dodging another tail strike. "No matter what i cannot get stung by the tail, who knows what kind of poison it will inflict on me if it gets the chance." Now out of striking range of the scorpion Klint went back in and side stepped another pincer strike. Then he circled and swung his sword, this time taking two legs with one swing. That left only one leg on the scorpions left side and he was no match for Klint anymore.

Unable to run or maneuver Klint got behind the scorpion and took its tail off. Then he went to the front and with one mighty downward swing split the scorpion in half from its maw to its belly. With a rush of essence Klint new that he had won. The scorpion Started dissolving right in front of him, and the essence it became was funneling into him until his spirit was full. The remaining essence started forming something on the ground, it looked like shin guards and bracers.

"Okay, is that a looting ability?" As Klint grabbed the guards and bracers he felt an innate sense of understanding in what the items did, the guards and bracers gave a minor increase to his overall durability and a sharp increase to the areas the directly covered. Looking around a bit more he found a silver coin with the picture of a scorpion on one side. "Am I getting paid to fight monsters?"

Klint picked up the silver coin, as he grabbed it, he felt a weird sensation and pushed on it, a little bit of mana trickled out of his hand and wrapped around the coin. Then it disappeared. "What was that?" Probing himself with his spiritual sense Klint felt a strange pocket in his spirit. Probing in that pocket he felt the coin and pulled bringing it back to his hand. "Holy crap, storage ability too? This is going to make carrying things around so much easier."

Sitting down to meditate Klint felt for the essence that flooded into him, sensing the channels that it could flow into.

BODY (red vial)

* Life Force *Regeneration

*Strength *Durability

*Stamina *Flexibility

*Speed *Balance

Sub Category Senses

*Sight *Hearing

*Smell *Touch

SPIRIT (blue vial)

*Mana Pool *Mana Density

*Mana Regeneration

Sub Category Mind

*Spirit Storage *Memory

*Perception *Reaction

Soul (purple vial)

*Spirit Sight *Spirit Sense

*Spirit Strength *Will Power

All these pathways but Klint could tell Soul was far from complete. "None of them are complete ha-ha, they all need to be upgraded but Soul has more channels that can be added. I can feel it." Klint grabbed the essence with his spirit and started guiding it down evenly into every channel for Body Spirit and Soul until every bit of essence was used.

With all the essence now in every channel it started to settle, and the pain took over, like the first time though there was a Plesant sensation joining the pain. The pain however was intense, and it took him by surprise almost rendering him unconscious again. As the pain receded Klint could feel his strength increasing. It seemed like it had taken him an hour to allocate and another hour of pain but in reality, the whole process only took fifteen minutes. "Time in the meditative state slowed down to a four to one it seems."