Ch 1 | Wake Up!

Darkness.

'Darker than the night.'

'Where am I?'

A frown.

'Who am I?'

"Hello? Is there anyone? If this is a hidden camera thing, then I have not consented to this-"

"I think..."

Absolute silence.

Then a deep breath.

'Seems like there is no one.'

'So, how do I get out of this endless darkness?'

At this moment something moved beside him.

~You wake up! This is how you get out!~

A slightly squeaky voice suddenly spoke up.

"Who are you?"

~I am Wake Up!~

~I am a core, a super-duper-powerful one.~

Wake Up happily chirped.

"That is a strange name-"

~Tell me, "What is your name then?~

Silence.

"I- I don't know."

~Mhhh, what are you then?~

"A Human. Definitely"

~Okay human, do you still want to get out?~

The friendly core spoke.

"Yes!"

Suddenly the whole world exploded with colors, and they found themselves in a Paradise, waterfalls, floating islands, trees higher than any skyscraper, touching the heavens and reaching far beyond, and finally a little crystal, floating right next to Genus.

Ah, yes he remembered now, he remembered who he was, though he didn't know where he was and where he came from.

"My name is Genus, how come I remember now?"

~Oh human, you woke up! Waking up can be so much more than escaping the clutches of sleep's darkness, it can be discovery of yourself, after being lost in the long dark!~

~Human, you awoke from your slumber of not being able to recognise yourself and therefore not recognising everything around you, but now, now you can see the world in all of its beauty!~

~Do you now understand the profoundness of my power?~

---

On a stormy night, in the Yang clan's main village, the rain was flooding the roads and thunder echoed throughout the streets.

Inside a building of the inner clan's district, there was a 14-year-old girl, she was sleeping on her mat, the spectacle outside didn't manage to disturb her deep slumber.

Suddenly a bright light, then an ear splitting thunder, the heavens seemed to split in two if they weren't already. The lightning struck the big bamboo building, destroying its roof and striking the girl.

The roof collapsed and buried her under its debris.

Though as the dust settled, two glinting eyes could be seen in the darkness.

"W-here am I?"

Thia spoke disorientedly, her pupils constricted.

"This!? I am in Yang clan?"

"My roots- I remember" She sighed.

After three centuries she had already long forgotten from whence she came, but now everything was as clear as the cold spring water from a mountain.

"My fullname, Thia Fan Yang!"

"I went back so far! Even more so, to this particular moment of my life!"

A smile flashed across her face for just a moment, in two days the awakening ceremony would be held and her human core's power would be unlocked!

"Teacher Wong, I swear I'll pay back your betrayal tenfold!"

A single tear escaped her glinting cold eyes.

---

The lightning that struck her residence caused a small commotion, but after the elders found out that she was apparently okay and only suffered minor injuries they sent her to the head elders' abode temporarily, at least until the awakening ceremony was held.

As the time of her awakening drew closer Thia managed to uncover her memories for more details about her home clan.

Her mind drifted to a particular one.

>

She was only five years old.

"Atop the high mountains,

A single flower grows,

Reaching for the heavens,

Though it shall no reach them,

For there is a flower down in the Valley,

Growing wings and swimming in the great blue."

She recited.

"What a beautiful poem, showing that no matter one's standing, even someone as low as a slave can reach for the heavens and may eventually grasp them!", an elder praised.

Another one added, "With her talent, it is practically a given that her human core's potential will be high! Maybe she even has a giant size pond with a grade A aratra spring!"

"Hah, dream on, only giant size tribes have even the luxury to even think of having this possibility. Though her potential certainly will be high!"

<

As she mused in these memories, her expression suddenly grew dark, she knew what lay ahead and that there was no way to avoid it, but at least after her three century-long life she now had an idea of the reason why it might happen.

"Well, now I can only wait for the awakening ceremony tomorrow!"

---

In a cave under the Yang clan, elders hushed about, and youngsters excitedly gazed at the pond of increasingly pure aratra, the further you go, before them.

"Chan Zu Pikong! You are first, do you remember what to do?", an elder suddenly called.

The addressed youth and a few others snapped out of their daze and he strode forward on shaky legs.

"Y-yes! I walk as far as I can manage, right?"

"Very well, you seem to have understood, the rest is up to you, now go, there are a bunch of others that still want to awaken their cores. Hush Hush-"

The young boy didn't have much time to make up his mind, or he would be pushed into the pond forcefully.

He took a deep breath and dipped his toe in the aratra, surprised by how warm and welcoming it felt he jumped in.

'This will be easier than I thought-'

'How could it be that the head elder only managed to take 10 steps until his internal pond was saturated?'

But with the next step he quickly learned why, the pressure on his unawakened core increased by several times, with all his effort he only managed 6 steps before he fainted.

"6 Steps, that is the lowest one can hope to achieve a rank 2 cultivation with much luck! Usually, sixer's only reach the first rank.", a few of the kids whispered to each other.

This went on for a while, a few youths reached nine steps until they fainted.

Then, it was another kid's turn, Thia remembered him, that kid always lived in her shadow, it was her younger brother, they got separated because he never showed similar potential to hers.

As he took his first step into the pond, she couldn't help but smirk because of what would happen next.

He took step after step, as the eyes of the elders and other youth grew large.

"11…"

"12…"

"13…"

"14…"

And he just kept on going, only after 26 steps he finally fainted.

The elder couldn't believe their eyes and the head was even crying, the other youths were in an uproar and would most likely tell this story again and again in the coming years.

"With 26 steps, he might even reach the realm of the rumored demi-immortals!", the head elder screeched as he thanked the heavens.

"He only has to wake up again and not get lost in the infinite dark, please oh mighty heavens!"

As if he heard their prayers, Yuan Fan Yang opened his eyes, crystal clear with none of his usual insecurities. As he stood up he locked eyes with his sister, Thia, and smirked at her with contempt, as if to say, 'no matter how great you are, you can't replicate my feat!'.

Thia only smiled back.

/---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\

Definitions:

'I think therefore I am' < ' ' Are used when characters think something to themselves.

"I really like talking to you!" < " " Are used when characters talk in any way, that includes knowingly telepathically

???What are words??? < ??? ??? Are used when I don't know the word of something on top of my head while writing, so if you see this, then I have screwed up, let me know!

--- < This is kinda a transitionary thing, it is used when either location or time, or both, change in a significant way.

--- great jade-ice mountain : noon --- < place description and time, like the first one, but when the place and time are important. Either place or time can be unspecified.