Author's Notes: Hello again. Nice to see you, I hope you're having a good day/night. If not, well, I hope this'll help even just a little bit.

<<<  What Have I Found?  >>>

My feet ached. I had been going my full speed for a while now and it was catching up to me. Like a fool, I had thought that my new body was invincible. Obviously it was not, that's why I was there, in that darkness.

Fortunately, I had managed to keep myself from ramming straight into any of those monstrously large trees. I had no way of knowing, but I suspected that they were getting bigger as I went further into the forest. It seemed strange, but my feet automatically took the slim pathway left between them.

It still seemed like something was calling out to me. The feeling hadn't gotten weaker, but almost unbearably stronger. It drove me. It beckoned me. I... I couldn't stop. I didn't want to.

So, the infinite hours passed in moments, leaving me there still, alone in the dark. Well, except for him. He didn't speak a word, but was far from silent. The growling he produced was frightening at first, but it slowly became comforting.

The soles on my boots had long worn out, and the callouses on my feet were beginning to burst. Fortunately, there was no light to see the blood, but it was excruciating. Every step, every movement was pure pain. I had no other reference point for it in my life. It just... was. Just like how I was, or like how he  was.

I was wrong before, about how there was no animals or plants in the forest. They were small, sure, but they were there. I occasionally bumped into a small patch of fur that would bark at me in a strange tone and then scurry away. Then again, sometimes I stepped over something very similar to grass, only each of its blades would almost lick my bloodied feet as I passed.

The further I walked, the scarcer the way was of such lifeforms. Their replacement was an annoying buzzing. It was so loud that it drowned out his  growling. Then, suddenly and severely, I became aware of my acute hunger. I was ravenous. It felt as if my stomach became a little beast all of its own, clawing and gnawing for a chance to escape from me. The thirst began as well, drying my insides into a desert, scorched in a blistering and unforgiving sun.

Almost as if to complement my misery, the tug to move forward exploded in strength. It was like gravity had shifted and every moment I wasted was in direct conflict with its force. What else could I do but go forward? Forward.. Forward...

I forgot about my feet, I forgot about my thirst, I forgot about my hunger, I forgot about the buzzing, I forgot about him.

I forgot about myself.

All there was was forward. All I had was forward.

So I walked.

<<<>>>

Light. I saw a speck of light ahead. Whether I had unknowingly looped around or not, I didn't care. That's where I was being pulled, so I went toward it.

I was so close, it was frustrating. I understood what a donkey chasing after a carrot on a stick felt like.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I inched toward the light. Though it was blinding, I didn't look away. I hadn't come all that way for nothing.

It began to get painful and my eyes watered from the exertion, but I had made it.

Blinking a few times to clear up the tears, I looked around. I had arrived in a clearing about a mile wide, completely devoid of trees. My feet met the familiar feeling of grass under them, real grass. The sun shone down brilliantly upon the single pond in the direct center of the clearing. It was still, yet not filled with algae. If not for its perfect reflection, I wouldn't have thought there was water in there at all.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I stood there for a while, stunned. All my aches and pains were gone, and it felt so... surreal. It was the first place I had encountered since I came to this planet, Kinni, that I had felt truly alien in. Even those enormous trees didn't harbor any particular unearthliness. But this place.... it was way too still.

After my dumbfounded pause, I slowly shambled over to the pond. My hooded visage stared back at me. At once, the urge to move grasped me again. I had to go in.

Looking around for anything alive and threatening, I carefully wiped my feet before easing my way in. The cool water was immediately comforting, even if it only reached to my waist. I waded to the middle and the urge left me. Immediately, I gasped a sigh of relief. My muscles loosened and my nerves calmed. It felt like I was Atlas, and the weight of the world was lifted after a thousand years.

'Come to think of it', I pondered, 'How long was I walking?'

The question wasn't so much a concern as an idle thought. I felt at peace, completely serene in that still pool.

But it didn't last long. I heard a voice over my shoulder.

"So, are you good and relaxed now, boy?", it grumbled.

I whipped around quickly to see the source. It was a tall, muscled man wearing simple green trousers and and an earthy brown shirt. He was one of those pretty boys I used to love to hate. His flowing silver hair and tanned skin severely contrasted the wisdom held in those jade green eyes. His arms were crossed in annoyance as he inspected me suspiciously.

I smiled, something he couldn't see under the hood. I had been through hell to reach my heaven, he didn't scare me in the slightest.

"Yeah, I'd say so", I said in a completely serious tone. It still kind of jarred me how deep my voice was, but I rolled with it.

He lowered down to crouch, staring at where he assumed my eyes to be before replying, "How did you find this place?"

The man seemed to be genuinely curious.

"It called out to me", I said simply. It was the truth, yet vague enough to keep a few cards in my hands.

A few moments of silence turned to a few minutes. I didn't back down, but neither did he. I was struck at how similar it was to how Devros stared at me when I had just arrived. The pressure was definitely similar, if not stronger.

"...What cultivation level are you?", he broke the silence.

"Kind of a personal question to ask a stranger, don't you think?", I returned.

He cocked his head to the side before saying, "I'll go ahead and say that it's zero then. Strange. I had heard the council had discovered beings such as yourself, but I doubted that information's credibility until now."

He stood up in a fluid motion. "That just leaves one question", he nearly whispers, "How did a being born without qi find the Teardrop of the Gods?"

'Huh. So that's what this pool is called. Kind of a stupid name choice, but hey, different culture and all', I thought.

He motioned for me to get out and I complied, because I was kind of a sitting duck otherwise.

He looked me up and down, nodding now and then. Every so often he would motion for me to raise my arm or cock my chin. I did so and only flipped him off once.

"Hmm", he hummed quietly, "Yes, I see."

Abruptly, he shoved me down onto the grass. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was definitely quick. I hadn't even processed it before my torso hit the ground.

"...", he stared at me, hand on chin.

"...", I returned the silence.

Before breaking it, saying, "What the hell, man? Rude, much?"

He didn't reply. But a grin slowly spread across his face. He nodded in self-affirmation before helping me up.

"I am Merlin. From now on, you are my apprentice, young one.", he affirmed with an absolute tone.

Just what the hell had I gotten myself into?